Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
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BioWare Gear Store @biowaregear With a face that launched a thousand starships, it's hard not to feel inspired by a photo of Tali on your bedside table.
Fresh from the Normandy and now in the @bioware Gear store, the Mass Effect Tali Frame is now available for purchase.
Q: Does sunk cost ever affect game dev? IE we put so many zots into a feature that isn't working, we may as well put in more to finish it?
A: Sunk cost affects us like it affects most humans. We’re loss-averse creatures and our brains abhor feeling like we’ve wasted resources. The problem then becomes throwing “good” resources after bad and trying to “get over the hump” when it is really just digging our own graves even deeper.
One famous example is Mass Effect Andromeda. ME:A had a major problem with sunk cost - the game was originally intended to feature a procedural planet generator that could create a near-infinite number of planets to explore. The dev team spent a tremendous amount of resources building out such a system and ended up scrapping it because it was just not good enough to generate the kind of quality content they knew their players would expect.
The sunk cost problem is often a real issue because it is extraordinarily difficult to solve and extremely easy to feel like you’re almost finished with them. The biggest problem with sunk cost is that the solution to the problem feels tantalizingly close if you only fix these issues, but this is why these problems are cursed. It’s usually a conflict of core gameplay values that cause these, and pushing to solve the incongruity usually just creates new issues that must be solved.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
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IGN @ign EA is nearing an agreement to move the ongoing development of MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic from BioWare to a third-party studio to allow BioWare to focus on Mass Effect and Dragon Age. bit.ly/3oOYsyq
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition Posts: 459 Likes: 1,506
IGN @ign EA is nearing an agreement to move the ongoing development of MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic from BioWare to a third-party studio to allow BioWare to focus on Mass Effect and Dragon Age. bit.ly/3oOYsyq
- PART 1 -
Chris Schmidt @nighguy Lots of conflicted feelings here for me, but happy the game will live on. Maybe one day I'll be in the headspace to share some thoughts.
Chris Schmidt @nighguy My take on the SWTOR/BioWare split:
For SWTOR: This is a Good Thing
For BioWare: This is a Big Loss
A thread:
My point of view is someone who worked for BioWare Austin on SWTOR from 2009 as an Assistant World Designer through 2022 as Design Director (with some Anthem, Shadow Realms, and <NDA> years sprinkled about).
BioWare Austin (BWA) was its own studio for many years, founded in order to make that game. MMO’s are expensive, y’all.
We didn’t really collaborate with BioWare Edmonton (BWE) on the dev side much, because there was no need to (with some exceptions – they had built the original on-rails space shooting component, for example).
As a business, in this model all revenue and expenses roll up into the greater whole (BioWare), which then roll into EA’s Group, and so on.
After many years, this model shifted and changed, for a large variety of reasons I won’t get into. BWA would no longer be a separate entity, but under the same core leadership as BWE – One BioWare (BW).
What this meant realistically was you had a boxed product business that had been tried and true for years, combined with a live service MMO business that wasn’t really understood by the boxed product folks. Arguably by EA either, to be fair.
You see, MMO’s can be fairly predictable if they run long enough. We knew the SWTOR business very well. We knew how to turn every dollar invested in the game into several more. SWTOR was (and continues to be) a very profitable business, with loads of heart behind it.
But an older game isn’t sexy. It’s not new. It doesn’t get marketing orgs excited or social media teams jazzed. It’s a ‘legacy game’, despite the mountains of income coming in that other franchises are built off of.
And you FELT it, as a member of the team. It’s a fantastic dev team, filled with incredible talent. How then, with such a close-knit team, did you always feel less-than?
Well, just take a look around. Look at BW’s social media posts and count the proportion of SWTOR game/fan/anything posts compared to ME or DA. Remember that BioWare 25th anniversary book? The beautiful 328 page recollection of BioWare’s history, and celebration of all franchises?
For a game like SWTOR that had been live already for 9 of those 25 years at the time of publication, how many pages, dear reader, do you think had any SWTOR imagery or content at all? Ten. Teams notice this. They feel it, and it feels like shit.
Does BW despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – they don’t understand it, and it was someone else’s game. Does EA despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – it’s a legacy live service, and again, was someone else’s game.
As a dev on SWTOR, you feel like your game is a burden to all of the layers above you, but you persist. You put so much heart and passion into the game, and you thrive on the fans and tremendous partnership with LucasFilm.
So to bring us back to current news, imagine a team excited about a game, with incredible plans, that have felt ‘less-than’ by their own studio and company for years, being unleashed.
Being part of an org that KNOWS the MMO business, and understands those player communities and the incredible stories and connections they form.
This feels like an exciting new chapter to me, and I’m optimistic about what this means for that team and the game. SWTOR is, to the best of my knowledge, the longest-running Star Wars anything, ever. It’s a special game and I’m so happy to see where the team takes it.
As far as BW, it would have certainly be in their best interest as a business to maximize exposure and support for SWTOR publicly over the years, since the SWTOR revenue has allowed for the…unusually long…dev cycles to continue for the last several games.
But now without SWTOR, there will be less places to hide heads, R&D, and time. You’ve got blockbuster single-player experiences hitting high Metacritic scores with…2-3 year dev cycles? And the BW pattern has been…double? Triple that?
I think it will be interesting to see how the EA/BW relationship continues to evolve in this new world.
Kotaku @kotaku BioWare pulls Mass Effect statue after everyone WTFs: bit.ly/3Cnj43S
Earlier today BioWare announced a new piece of merch for Mass Effect fans: a statue of Commander Shepard from the opening of Mass Effect 2, where if you need reminding they are found dead and floating in space. The statue was accompanied by a slightly odd press release, and the combination of the two has led to a lot of fans spending the day wondering if everything was OK at the BioWare Gear Store.
The statue, released as part of a range that also features Kaidan, Thane and the Illusive Man, was pitched in a press release as a “conversation starter”, and described it as “The Mass Effect Shepard’s Death Statue depicts Mass Effect 2's dramatic opening scene: Commander Shepard expelled from a crumbling Normandy and hurtling through space to her untimely demise”.
That’s a...weird thing to capture in a statue, weirder still when it’s pitched that way and you see the sculpt:
BioWare Gear Store @biowaregear Hi all,
Earlier today, we announced the sale of our latest Mass Effect Shepard statue. This statue was intended to be part of a series, commemorating some of the key and most emotional moments in the series. The way we announced it did not convey that properly, nor does it give the moment in the series the credit it deserves.
As a result, we'll be pausing sales on the statue until we can share the larger plan with you.
Thank you,
BioWare Gear Store
If you were able to secure a pre order for this, we will unfortunately need to cancel this until the proper launch. The store will automatically refund your card, and should you need extra customer support, please contact us here: biowarestore-ycampdba71o.gorgias.help/en-US
Nunzio DeFilippis @ndefilippis Took a weekend vacation and was able to ride #MassEffect #NewEarth at #CaliforniasGreatAmerica with Christina Weir and our friend Jenny. A small thing, but still bucket list worthy.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
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As we look toward the future, BioWare is focused on being a leader in developing immersive, emotionally charged, single-player games, with teams primarily in Austin and Edmonton. This means a renewed focus on our two key franchises: Dragon Age™ and Mass Effect™. For Dragon Age, we continue to build, polish, and tune an exceptional experience we know our fans will love. We can’t wait to share more on this soon. For Mass Effect, we continue pre-production with a core team of veteran storytellers who are bringing the deep franchise history forward in a spectacular new way. I’m excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, and Keith wanted to share his own thoughts about the transition. Stay well, Gary McKay General Manager, BioWare
Dark Horse Direct @darkhorsedirect There is only one day left of our Five Years of Fandom Sweepstakes! Enter for a chance to win one of five limited edition collectibles by tomorrow, July 25th!
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition Posts: 459 Likes: 1,506
I still watch this at least once a week. As someone who's been following this world for nearly 20 years (X05 Reveal - Oct 4, 2005), it holds the most unique space in my heart. The tears were real lol.
My hype never dies baby.
@masseffect @bioware #MassEffect #BioWare ❤️
Michael Gamble @gamblemike
We'll do right by you.
Fade @_CoolMist
There’s been a question burning a hole in my heart since this dropped: Everyone asked why is Liara there, why is she uncovering a N7 insignia, who are the crew in the distance and what alien races are they, etc. But what I want to know, is Liara happy all these years later?
Michael Gamble @gamblemike
happy...i mean. Depends.
Bommelunder @arne_buhtz
Hey Michael, what’s your favorite ship of Mass Effect? Is it a the obvious one - like the Normandy or is it something more rare?
Michael Gamble @gamblemike
something you haven't seen yet...
Last Edit: Aug 17, 2023 15:25:30 GMT by Sandetiger
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
Caitie @/ghildirthalen As many of you know, last week BioWare laid off 50 devs suddenly. It's been shocking to everyone. While we can't do much, we wanted to try and do something for those affected. So, we started @crewcompanions
Our goal: Help #hirethe50 and send kindness to those in need.
On our Twitter/🔵☁️ [blueksky] accounts, we'll be boosting job offers towards those laid-off so they can be found by those in need, as well as pinning a thread of tweets by those looking for work.
If you are in gamedev and have openings, please use #hirethe50 so we can find you!
For fans, we have volunteers working tirelessly to build a small website for you to post kind words for those who are hurting at the moment. I (and the @crewcompanions account) will let you know the moment it's up and running!
I can't speak for everyone involved, but many of us on the team have suddenly lost jobs in mass-layoffs like this one, and we don't want people to go through what we did.
While companies will never care about you, people will. We care, and we want to help as best we can.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
Staff Mini-Profile Theme: DragonKingReborn Games: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 887 Prime Likes: 590 Posts: 21,620 Likes: 44,628
Post by DragonKingReborn on Sept 13, 2023 20:51:24 GMT
A reminder - this thread is exclusively for posting of news links, Bioware Blogs and 'relevant to Mass Effect' social media posts. No discussion - of the posts or anything else - is to take place here. Discussion for these posts is to take place in the dedicated discussion thread - linked below.
"Kneel before the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt." 21 Feb 2019 at 6:59am - It has not been forgotten. It will not be forgiven. We've now met seven times... Revenge is ice cream - Serza, April 2020 Also known as Mike, David, Scott or Bruce
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
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Terminated BioWare Employees Sue for Better Severance
On August 23 of this year, Edmonton video game studio BioWare ULC terminated 50 employees without cause. In most recent court cases of termination without cause, Alberta Courts have awarded at least one month of severance pay per year of service, with the full value of all benefits included; the severance that BioWare offered to these employees was significantly less than this amount. Several of those ex-employees attempted to negotiate with BioWare for adequate severance, but BioWare refused to increase its severance amounts.
Seven employees, with an average of 14 years at BioWare, have refused to accept BioWare's low offers, and have filed a Statement of Claim with Alberta's Court of King's Bench, requesting fair severance pay and including a request for punitive damages for what they say is unreasonably poor treatment by BioWare.
"In light of the numerous recent industry layoffs and the fact that BioWare's NDAs prevent us from showing any of our recent work on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in our portfolios, we are very concerned about the difficulty many of us will have finding work as the holiday season approaches," said one of the terminated employees, "While we remain supportive of the game we worked so hard on, and of our colleagues continuing that work, we are struggling to understand why BioWare is shortchanging us in this challenging time."
R. Alex Kennedy, counsel for the seven employees, says that even in cases where BioWare has contracts that discuss termination, BioWare may have included illegal provisions: "There are many situations where employers include termination provisions that are not enforced by the Courts," he said, "and I think we see that in this case too. BioWare attempted to reduce its obligation to these employees well below what the courts typically award, including by eliminating benefits from its termination pay - that appears to be contrary to the Employment Standards Code."
In Kennedy's opinion, these employees deserve generous severance pay: "These people are artists and creators who have worked very hard and for a very long time in a difficult industry, producing big profits for their employer. Their termination without cause en masse like this calls for a response. Employers here can terminate anyone at any time without cause, but with that right comes a responsibility to the people they put in that situation."
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